SIMMONS SAYS: Of Bo Levi, the terrible Oilers, and remembering the late Leon McQuay

OTTAWA — This is the kind of career Bo Levi Mitchell is having: After 68 professional regular-season starts as quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders, his team has lost only 10 times.

By comparison, Tom Brady, quarterback of all quarterbacks, had a 51-17 won-loss record after 68 starts with the New England Patriots. The difference, though, Brady had three Super Bowl rings by that time.

Mitchell is going for his second Grey Cup championship Sunday night but as of now he seems to be less Brady and more Clayton Kershaw when it comes to finishing the job: An amazing regular-season starter but one who has been unable to finish the expected job.

Maybe that’s the difference, other than the obvious, between Mitchell and Ricky Ray. In Ray’s first 68 starts with the Argos, in the winding down of his career, he won just 32 games, lost 36. But he has the same number of Grey Cup titles with Toronto than Mitchell has in Calgary, one.

The game Sunday night is their tiebreaker. Should the Argos win, Ray will have won more Grey Cups as a starter, four, than any quarterback in history. He wins championships. Mitchell rarely loses games. Something has to give here.

Let the game begin.

THIS AND THAT

Being lousy is one thing. Almost getting shut out in Buffalo by the rather inept Sabres has to be cause for tremendous concern with the off-the-track Edmonton Oilers. But what do they do to fix this? This is complicated … When the Leafs tanked and finished 30th in 2016, the Oilers and Sabres were right beside them. Now the Leafs are third or fourth in the conference and there are the Sabres and Oilers, again two of the worst teams in the NHL. Tanking is not a panacea for everyone … Last week, the Maple Leafs won four games without Auston Matthews, but wins aren’t always indicative of the way a team is playing. In the four games without Matthews, the Leafs were outshot 153-106. They were outplayed in the majority of all four games. A hot Frederik Andersen delivered, just as he delivered Friday night in Carolina … It may seem like Western wins the Vanier Cup all the time, but that’s not true. The Mustangs won Saturday for the first time since 1994. The year after the Joe Carter home run … If something happens to Dave Hakstol in Philadelphia, and fans are calling for a firing, don’t be surprised if Kris Knoblauch gets elevated to head coach of the Flyers … Toronto FC, one win away from the MLS Cup, was fortunate to get out of Columbus with a 0-0 draw. The Crew had all kinds of scoring opportunities late against TFC and couldn’t finish.

HEAR AND THERE

Steven Stamkos leads the NHL in assists, which is, in a word, unusual. The highest he has ever been is the league is 23rd in assists and that was six seasons back … The two best centres in the NHL right now are Stamkos and John Tavares. Not far behind thelocals, Anze Kopitar and Brayden Schenn. Earth to Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid and Evgeni Malkin: Time to do the Ameril thing and kick it up a bit … What a steal Schenn has been for the Blues. They gave up nothing from their everyday roster and end up with a frontline centre. The Schenn line with Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko is 1-2-3 in plus-minus stats and 4-5-10 in NHL scoring. That is ridiculous in the early season … Johnny Gaudreau is having a crazy season in Calgary. He has been in on 51% of all Calgary goals. By comparison. Crosby has been in on 30% of Pittsburgh goals and Matthews has been in on 26% of Leafs scoring. Stamkos, leading the NHL, has been part of 42% of Tampa Bay’s scoring … Nazem Kadri’s favourite words: “It won’t happen again.” Kadri doesn’t lead the Leafs in goal scoring but he tends to lead in apologies … The lesson from the Jack Eichel and Leon Draisaitl future contracts: There’s no reason to pay too much, too fast. Neither of the high-priced future stars are playing anywhere near their future projections. The Leafs should take note with William Nylander due up next season and his numbers below expectations.

SCENE AND HEARD

Today’s players are indeed different. Marc Trestman says you can’t get them off their phones. Time was, Grey Cup players would be out partaking in the festivities during the big week. What were fierce Argo defensive linemen Victor Butler and Shawn Lemon doing? They went together — for pedicures. Honest … My pal Terry Jones, not a millennial, on the two things you never want to take to Grey Cup Week: 1) your team and 2) your wife … This is what too much of Grey Cup Week looks like: It is more than middle aged and white and more than occasionally Western Canadian. The real challenge for commissioner Randy Ambrosie: Find a younger, multi-cultural, engaged audience that looks more like Canada looks today … Grey Cup Week belongs in places like Ottawa, where you can walk the downtown streets and see fans everywhere. Last year in Toronto, you could walk a lot of downtown and see no one connected in any way to the Grey Cup … One thing to love about Ambrosie, his sincerity about his admiration of the CFL: “I’ve never felt more Canadian in my entire life,” he said. “I’ve never been more proud to be Canadian.” When he says, you feel it … I think I’ve been hearing about a Halifax CFL franchise since I had an afro in high school. I’ll believe it when they’re kicking off the ball for their first game, whenever that will be … The big advantage for the Stampeders over the Argos, roster ratio. Calgary plays a Canadian, Jerome Messam, at running back and a sort-of-Canadian, Alex Singleton, at middle linebacker. Both play traditional American positions at a very high level.

AND ANOTHER THING

Mike Babcock is big on goal differential, which means he must be just a little shocked to see the two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins at minus-20 on the season. Montreal is minus-26, the disappointing Edmonton Oilers at minus-17. Alex Anthopoulos was huge on run-differential when running the Blue Jays. It was primarily the reason he made the big trades in 2015 that led to two ALCS appearances and over the top attendance in Toronto … Hands up, all two of you, who had Marvin Jones having a better fantasy season at receiver than Julio Jones … NFL MVP, easy. It’s Ezekiel Elliott. You take him away from the Dallas Cowboys, we’ve seen it. They’re nothing … This isn’t something to be proud of for my old town: Calgary has the worst NHL rink in Canada and the next to worst CFL stadium … I’ve seen it before. An athlete losing himself in pain and injury. Derrick Rose is only the latest to walk away to collect his thoughts. It’s always a shame when a player of such quality can’t remain healthy. Rose was a special talent … Not enough said about the solid play of Leafs rookie Andreas Borgman. What a find this kid is … Happy birthday to Jon Ryan (36), Chris Osgood (45), Bob Murray (63), Jan Stenerud (75), Joffrey Reynolds (38), Shawn Kemp (48), Harry Carson (64) and Art Shell (71) … And hey, whatever became of Joe Montford?

LOSS STILL HURTS

Dave Dickenson said it earlier in the week. As a coach, you remember the losses far more than you ever celebrate the victories. With Calgary playing Toronto this Sunday in the Grey Cup, my thoughts go back to 1971, the first Grey Cup I truly cared about.

We had just got a colour TV. The game was never more effervescent or alive and neither were the Argonauts. Leo Cahill was coaching, Joe Theismann, the rookie, was playing quarterback, and the late Leon McQuay, another rookie, was running the ball, creating an excitement like few ever have.

It seemed so new back then, the football excitement, showing off the colour TV to friends who were still watching on black and white, the fascination that surrounded the Argos. You were taken in by the enthusiasm, the energy, the belief a championship was near.

And then it happened, Dick Thornton cut the wrong way on an interception, McQuay fumbled, the rain fell, Harry Abofs accidentally muffed a punt, the Argos lost. A lot of us cried. Many have carried that defeat around as championships have been won. Your first love. You never really get over it.

A BIG HEADACHE

Really, what was Randy Ambrosie supposed to say?

There is logic and there is inference and there are some legalities involved with being commissioner of the Canadian Football League at this time in history — and some reality too that he must deal it.

And one of those aspects is this: The CFL is being sued by former player Arland Bruce and the lawsuit is all about the effect of concussions and the negligence of the league. It is heading to the Supreme Court of Canada shortly for a decision on whether it can proceed.

I wonder if those who scream about cause and effect and the obvious correlation of hits to the head and brain damage really understand that under normal, regular, non-litigated times, the new commissioner of the league might have an entirely different answer.

Ambrosie, to his credit, wasn’t dismissive in a Gary Bettman kind of way when asked about it at his annual press conference, but he said he was open to all the information of science on concussions and CTE and the responsibility of those involved but he wasn’t forthcoming either. Because at this time, really, he can’t be.

Until the Bruce suit goes away, and it should, then you might see some kind of change in Ambrosie’s open view on the matter. At this point, he needs to protect his league first and the less he says right now, the better for his operation.

CULTURE CHANGE NEEDED

Mark Shapiro talked a lot about the need for culture change when he became president of the Blue Jays in 2015.

He never really explained what he meant by the changebut it seemed just a littleinsulting to the incumbents, Paul Beeston and Alex Anthopoulos.

The culture change he was referring to clearly couldn’t have had anything to do with six Blue Jays minor-leaguers testing positive for banned substances in recent days. In the same way that the Blue Jays new devotion to sports science and health meant more player injuries this past season than the Jays have experienced previously?

General manager Ross Atkins has promised some kind of internal investigation so he can better understand where and how his minor-leaguers went wrong. In an unrelated but related way, Atkins also said there needed to be clearer communication between management and the training staff, and the training staff and the players moving forward. Already that has resulted in some job replacements and new protocols.

What seems clear from the outside is this operation, apparently in need of culture change needs to be more aware of what is happening within its own culture, at the major league and minor league level. Perhaps Shapiro is right — he needs to institute a culture change from his culture change.

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